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Well Pattye, coming from such an experienced/professional jewelry maker, I am humbled. Thank you for your kind words. I know we all just share the joy of working with and making things out of nature's beauties. A small part of me wishes I'd been trained in the jewelry craft (metals, stones...

Going through what I've worked on since my last "pearly" posts I realized that I had not posted this project. I found it "resale" for a very good price, but was unhappy with how it was put together and actually laid on one's neck. After taking it apart and working with the distance between the...

My last post was June 4th...it's been a summer. Active with Vacation Bible School at work, then off to Glacier National Park for hiking. Unfortunately I turned my ankle toward the end of St. Mary Falls Trail and something went crack! A painful 1/4 mile to the car and then a 3.5 hour drive...

So it looks like my additions to this thread will be more "monthly" than daily! I've been so busy with family and work. I have been designing some lovely rings lately and found myself with extra small diamonds from the re-works. Being someone who doesn't like things to go to waste, I decided to...

Wearing a fantastic yellow top I fell in love with because it has little "sprinkles" of gold printed on the fabric. This lends itself so well to gold jewelry and, of course, a South Sea Golden pearl!

Heavy beads pull at a thread so much, even heavy weight threads...no wonder they are pulling apart in that one place. You might consider some silicone coated wire and crimp beads at the clasp to give it more strength. You can usually find an accent bed with a big enough hole to slide over the...

One of my fellow congregants wanted to do something special for his wife for their anniversary. She is part of a very active sorority that are so committed to each other; they remain "sisters" for their whole lives! What a treasure, right. We did a funeral for one of their members and the church...

Be sure to watch a couple of videos on YouTube on this too...that gave me more confidence.

No...no metal in the microwave. I boil 1/2 a coffee mug of water and drop them in. Soak till the water cools slightly, try to gently twist the pearls and if they don't budge, I repeat the process until the glue starts to loosen. Sometimes I have to use a super glue dissolver, but that is so...

Oh wow, so now this makes sense, why when I restring pearls the center does not always align and I have to clear out that "catch" to be able to get my needle through. I wasn't sure why this was the case until reading your comment.

I too buy top quality drill bits-they were a game changer! However, OK, NO ONE SHOOT ME, I use this handy little tool (Etsy link below) and my Dremel hand drill with my high-end pearl drill bits. I am typically either opening up a current hole or 1/2 drilling a pearl for earrings or a pendant...

I have a strand of Mikimoto pearls with the ball-type 1874 dated clasp and when I called Mikimoto to see if they would give me or information about this clasp, they would only authenticate the clasp by my sending the pearls in for this evaluation at a cost of $250 minimum, plus my postage both...

Of course, either is possible. I would lean toward thinking the Authenticator made a slight mistake. I've had many sellers so frustrated with the authentication process, even when the piece is authentic. But authentication is nice to have when spending so much money...it also weeds out the...

Yikes, has it really been since Valentines day since I added to this thread? Being a music minister at a church, my job definitely has a busy season and I'm just starting to come out of it as we head into summer. My church is hosting a fund raiser next week and I've decided to donate some simple...

I understand your thinking, as I felt the same way in the beginning of my pearling journey; if using 14k OR 18k beads/clasps why not use the same in gimp. Protecting the silk against the jump ring or clasp is the reason for gimp. 14K or 18K gimp could technically be made into gimp but with the...

I always appreciate when pearly friends take time to comment. It is very encouraging.:giggle:

Etsy sellers have these too, but the sizes vary. Might want to do some searching on Etsy...

Once you've seen the best, it is hard to go back! Your pearls are absolutely amazing, enjoy them. How fun to be able to pick the exact ones you wanted.

Amen to that!!!

I've also been working on a whimsical necklace for a friend who LOVES dragonflies. I found these sterling silver connector beads and had them rhodium dipped so they wouldn't tarnish. I definitely don't like trying to clean silver when it is next to Akoya pearls. I found the pearls on an estate...